The Shape of Music
by HiddenFlowerDesi
Summary: When Sora gets woken up by the guy upstares playing his piano at 3am, his life goes from interesting to amazing as he gets slung into a world he'd never took the time to appriciate before
1. Silent Wind

**DISCLAIMER:** **I OWN NEITHER** _ **KINGDOM HEARTS**_ **NOR IT'S CHARACTERS. THIS PLOT, HOWEVER, IS MINE.**

 **Okay, so I've never seen anyone do this AU at all, let alone with** _ **Kingdom Hearts**_ **(apologies if someone has?)**

 _Silent Wind_

Not to get him wrong, Sora normally enjoyed the beautiful flowing piano notes coming the apartment above theirs, but it was three in the morning. He had a test tomorrow. He needed _sleep_ , which was hard to do when someone was playing the _Titanic_ soundtrack at such a late hour.

He rolled over, pillow folded over his ears as he glared at Riku, who was sleeping soundly in his own bed on the other side of the room. Lucky bastard.

With an audible groan, Sora lifted himself out of the warmth of his bed and pulled on a pair of jeans he'd discarded on the floor earlier that day. He was going to have to take the matter into his own hands if he planned on getting any sleep anytime soon.

He swiped his keys off the counter before leaving the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him knowing Riku would be pissed if he found out he didn't. He got halfway to the elevator before remembering it was out of order and resisted the urge to scream as he took the stairs instead, huffing the entire way up. When he finally arrived on the floor of choice, he walked slowly down the hall, trying to figure out what door the music was coming from. He walked past the same door twice before confirming it to be the one. He knocked. Loudly.

The piano playing came to a sudden halt and after waiting for what felt like an eternity, the door finally opened, revealing a guy with messy blond hair who appeared to be several years older than Sora. College age, to be exact. He probably attended the one across from the academy, Sora guessed.

"Okay, listen. I'm normally very nice and very patient, but my apartment is right under yours and as much as I like _The Heart Will Go On_ , I have a test first thing in the morning and I'm seriously screwed if I flunk it, which I'm most definitely going to do if you don't shut the hell up up here," Sora complained, not particularly enjoying that it had to come to this. The guy looked… _guilty_ and Sora started to feel bad for fussing at him. It probably hadn't occurred to him that he was bothering anybody. His mouth moved silently as he waved his hands around and Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"

The guy frowned, ducking back in the door for a moment before reemerging looking slightly exasperated with a piece of paper that read, _My bad. It won't happen again._

Sora blinked in confusion. Was something wrong with the guy's voice? Maybe he had a cold. Sometimes he has a hard time talking when when _he_ has a sore throat "Is your throat okay? I have some cough drops in my apartment if you think that'll help."

The guy immediately started shaking his head before waving his hands around once more before taking the paper back and returning to the apartment, leaving to door open for Sora to enter.

Sora glanced around the half lit apartment. It was nice. Nicer than even Kairi and her father's. The paper was shoved back in his face and he pulled his head back to get a better look before grabbing it. "You can't talk, like, at _all_?" A nod. "And your name Ventus, but you prefer to go by Ven?" Another nod. Well that explained the jazz hands in the hallway. "Do you live here by yourself? It's kind of big."

Ventus shook his head. _I live with Terra and Aqua. They're my siblings… Kind of. We were adopted by Eraqus when we were kids. How old are you? Do you go to the college? I swear I've seen you before._

"I'm fifteen and no, I go to Destiny Academy. You're a student there?" Sora asked, his curiosity making him forget that he was supposed to be sleeping. "Wait a minute. Did you say Eraqus? As if in the _headmaster_?! You're the headmaster's son?"

 _Duh. What's it to ya?_

"Nothing, nothing. I just wasn't expecting that was all, but I guess that explains why your place is so nice, seeing as how the academy owns the building. I guess he pulled some strings." It was then that Sora noticed the blank look Ventus was giving him. "Uh, not that I mean anything bad by that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using connections to get nice things! I mean-! You know what, I'm just gonna shut up now…"

Ventus chuckled soundlessly. _It's fine. Shouldn't you be getting back to sleep, though? You said you had a test?_

"A test? Oh! _Crap_! I completely forgot. Sorry if I came off as an ass earlier. I have to go. Bye!" Sora shouted as he darted out the door and down the hall towards the stairwell.

He was so screwed. Oh so very screwed. There was no way he was going to be able to get up in the morning. He'd stayed up for far too long. He was going to sleep through his test and he was going to fail and then he was going to get held back, he just _knew_ it. Riku was already a year ahead of him. He wouldn't be able to bare not having Kairi with him either. This was horrible! He was mentally screaming as he slammed into his bed, struggling to find a comfortable position... And just like that, he was awoken by the sound of _Oath_ coming from his phone and the smell of Riku's black coffee wafting in the air like some sort of holy smelling salts. He didn't even remember falling asleep, just freaking the fuck out over how life as he knew was going to come to an end.

Riku sat on the edge of his own bed, pulling his silver hair into a bun before taking a sip of his caffeine bomb. "Where did you go last night? I got up to pee and you were gone."

"I had to tell the guys upstairs to stop playing the piano," he informed him as he finally managed to dismiss his alarm. He groaned as he forced himself to sit up. "I made a total ass of myself, which was horrible because he seems like a nice guy? You wouldn't happen to know him, would you?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't know. What's he look like?"

"Older than us. He's not that tall, but he's taller than me. It looks like he stuck his head out the window of an airplane." Sora thought for a moment, feeling stupid for getting forgetting one specific fact. "Oh yeah, and he's a literal mute."

Riku blinked slowly. "He plays piano and he's mute?"

"Oh, and he said his name is Ven… _tus_."

The look on Riku's face made Sora feel dumber than he already did for the whole fiasco. "You mean the headmaster's son Ventus?! He assists in the music room on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, you dolt! Of _course_ I know Ven! Why didn't you _start_ with his name?"

"Because I didn't think you actually knew him!"

"How did you _not_ before now?"

"Because I don't take classical music anymore, Riku! I switched it for German at the beginning of the year," Sora shot back, suddenly looking and feeling a bit more awake.

"Which you're failing, by the way," Riku smirked, dodging Sora's pillow with ease.

"Shut up and drink your coffee, you jerk!"

Sora continued to grumble to himself as he pulled on his uniform, demanding Riku tell him why he didn't bother to wake him up when he checked his phone for the time.

"I tried, but you kept swearing at me," he deadpanned in response. "I left you a waffle and some eggs on the stove, by the way. You might wanna hurry seeing as how we have to leave in less than five minutes. If you're not ready by then I'm ditching you."

It took Sora more than five minutes to get ready and Riku did not, as Sora already knew he wouldn't, ditch him, but rather stood impatiently at the door while the brunette wrapped his eggs in his waffle like a taco before barreling out the door, the occasional egg flying free and onto the pristine hall carpets.

Riku, of course, had no choice but to ditch him and make a run for it when they arrived at the school's gates seeing as how his classroom was farther away than Sora's. The winded brunette somehow managed to make it to his desk right as the bell rung, a trickle of sweat running down his back as he panted heavily, leaning back into his seat as he struggled to catch his breath.

"You know, you could try leaving earlier for once," Kairi chuckled, twisting around in her desk to get a better look at him. Her hair was done up in a fancy bun, which meant she was going somewhere with her dad after school and wouldn't be able to join him and Riku at the arcade. He groaned. That would be the third time that week.

"Not my fault. I overslept because the guy above wanted to play cheesy romance music at three in the morning and when I went up to complain I ended up liking him and talked for too long. It's a miracle I'm even here right now." He defended, flopping lifelessly onto his desk as the teacher walked in. "Pretty sure Riku was about to leave me."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Nah, you're right. He would've eaten my breakfast _then_ he would've left me."

"As you all know," Xigbar started as he pulled out a huge stack of papers from his bag before slinging it onto his cluttered desk. "You have an exam today. This counts as _forty percent_ of your grade for this semester. I hope all of you studied. Especially you, Sora."

A low chorus of laughter flowed throughout the classroom as Sora sunk further into his desk, his cheeks turning pink from the unwanted attention. Leave it to good ole Mr. Xigbar to call him out like that.

"Take a test a pass it back," He instructed as he handed a small stack of tests to the person at the front of each row. "Be sure to fill it out correctly. You only get half points for correct answers if I have grade it manually because you couldn't fill in the dots correctly."

He suppressed a groan when he received his test. He should've know taking german was a bad idea. He should've either stuck it out in Classical Music or taken Japanese, which he already knew because of his heritage, but _nooo_ , he had to take German because Kairi was taking German, which she was, unlike him, actually _good_ at.

"I'm gunna fucking fail," his hissed under his breath as he read the first question.

Two hours of testing later, Sora was finally free from his torment, though he still very much wanted to cry at the knowledge that he'd done horribly.

"You couldn't have done _that_ bad. I helped you study all week," Kairi told them as they walked through the halls to meet Riku.

The three of them had Study Hall together, though they rarely ever used it to study seeing as how Teacher in charge didn't care what anyone did so long as they didn't interrupt him reading his fantasy novels or his planning for his next D&D game with his boys, as he called them. Sora was mainly just bewildered that a guy that old was into such things. Riku had argued that joy doesn't have an age.

They often spent the time to share whatever weirdness may have happened in their respective first blocks, others trying to figure out Merlin's real name -even the academy staff was at a loss to what it was.-

"So what was all that noise in the music room? It sounded like someone was still going hard at it when we picked you up," Kairi said as she dug through her bag for her beloved Cheese Doodles. The noise she made as she crunched down on one was nothing short of pleasurable.

"You know they ballet thing in a few weeks?" Riku asked, continuing only after Sora and Kairi nodded in affirmation. "Well, they have to practice everyday until the day of and the music room at the college got damaged by some asshole, so they're using ours until it's fixed."

"Why would someone do that?" Sora asked, wrinkling his nose. He didn't like music class either, but that seemed to be going a bit far. Whatever it was, it must've been personal.

"Someone who was kicked out and looking for revenge, perhaps?" Kairi offered.

"I dunno, maybe. Ven seemed disconcerted about the whole thing. I think he might know something, but I didn't want to pry," Riku explained as he rested his head on his arms.

"Ven?" Kairi asked, confused.

"The guy that lives directly above us and one of the Headmaster's kids. Nice guy. Pays the piano fantastically, but I think I'd enjoy it more if he didn't wait until after midnight to start playing," Sora told her. She nodded.

"OK, but what makes you think he's knows what happened?" Kairi asked Riku, finishing off her snack and wiping her fingers clean on her handkerchief. "Did you hear him say something?"

Riku couldn't help but laugh at this. "Sorta. He and his sister, she's one of the ballerina's, were arguing about it outside the classroom when I got there. He seemed hella pissed, though I don't really know what he was saying, you know, with all the hand dancing."

Now Kairi looked really confused. "Hand dancing?"

"He's mute," Sora and Riku said in sync.

"Jinx, you owe me some ice cream," Riku quickly told him as he punched him in the shoulder.

"Dammit, you always say it first. It's not fair," Sora whined as he rubbed his shoulder bitterly.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight," Kairi said, waving her hands theatrically. "This Ven guy is one of the Headmaster's kids, he lives right above you and pissed Sora off with his piano playing, and he's probably connected to the college's music room getting completely and utterly trashed?"

Riku nodded. "Pretty much."

"You can't write this kind of shit," she deadpanned.

"I say we investigate further," Sora happily announced, standing in a super hero pose with his hands on hips until Riku jerked him back into his chair by his belt loop.

"Sticking our noses in things that aren't our business and get in trouble, you mean" Riku drawled, releasing the hyperactive brunette.

" _Awe_ , come on. It'll be _fun_. You do remember what fun is, right? Or are you too busy playing the jello to hang out with us?"

The corner of Riku's lip twitched. " _Cello._ It's called a cello, Sora."

"That's not an answer, jello man!"

"Now you're just doing it on purpose!"

" _Guys_!" Kairi hissed, pointing to Merlin who was peeking over his book at them.

"We don't need a repeat of next week, do we?"

"No, sir," they chimed all at once.

A wave of muffled laughter washed over the classroom as Merlin returned to his book, pushing his spectacles up his nose as he did so. The trio sunk into their seats embarrassedly.

"Fine," Riku grumbled eventually. "But if we get in trouble I'll say you blackmailed me."

"Killjoy," Kairi giggled. "I won't be able to help until tomorrow, so you guys are on your own until then."

"If you're going to one of those fancy pancy places, bring us leftovers," Sora demanded, leaning towards her over the table.

"The speed in which you changed topics the second you thought food was involved is scary," Kairi whispered, holding her book over the lower part of her face. "Oh, and about the snooping, don't do anything that might get you suspended."

"Like what?"

"Starting fights."

"We won't," Riku drawled.

"Promise me! No. _Pinkie Swear_! I thought I was going to die the last time you two got suspended. It was so _boring_ ," She whined, slamming her book down on the table, pouting for emphasis.

"Fine."

"We pinky swear."

"Good. And be sure to tell me what you find out."


	2. Puddle of Pissed

**DISCLAIMER:** **I OWN NEITHER KINGDOM HEARTS OR ITS CHARACTERS, JUST THIS PLOT**

 _Puddle of Pissed_

"You need to talk to him," Aqua drawled as she unwrapped a granola bar and began to nibble on it. "It was you two not communicating that caused this whole problem to begin with."

 **No, It's him being a sociopath that's the problem** , Ventus frantically signed at her, pausing unwrapping his burger to do so. Terra would no doubt lecture him if he saw him eating this junk. He could practically hear him whining about how it would be hard to play piano with fingers the size of jumbo hot dogs. He took a bite before resuming his argument. **Why are you taking his side?**

"I'm not taking his side, Ven, I'm just saying that maybe, just _maybe_ if you had talked to him about it like I'd asked you to do _fifty times_ , then maybe he wouldn't have set off fireworks in the music room, which we kind of needed to _rehearse_ ," she told him, resisting the urge to give him a full blown lecture like she would've done when they were younger. The result of the last lecture was nothing short of nuclear and she didn't want a repeat.

 **Well maybe if he could follow simple directions** -

Aqua began to pinch the bridge of her nose with her free hand, squeezing her eyes shut. "Whatever, It's done now. Nothing we can do. Let's just… put this behind us. For now, at least."

Ventus stared at her blankly for a good minute before replying. **Fine.**

"So, did you stay out of trouble while we were all gone? You didn't piss the neighbors off again?" She asked and as soon as the words left her mouth she could see it all over his face.

 **No.**

"Liar. Tell me the truth."

He blinked once, twice. **Some kid in the apartment below ours. I didn't realise how late it was. He seemed pissed at first, but he let it go pretty quickly.** He began to chuckle then. **He asked if I had a cold.**

Aqua nodded at that. "Did you explain it to him, or did you let him believe you were just too hoarse to talk from strep or something?"

 **I told him. Not the story, just that I can't talk. I don't know him well enough for that.**

"Understandable, though I can't say I'm surprised. It took you ages to tell me and Terra." She finished off her granola bar and tossed the wrapper into a nearby trash can. She cheered theatrically. She paused her mini victory due to Ventus tapping her arm for her attention.

 **I'll… I'll talk to him the next time I see him. Vanitas, I mean. The quicker I get this over with, the better it'll be for all parties involved** , He told her, playing with his fries once he was done. He chuckled as she stole a few. So much for her pre-performance diet. She grinned at him.

"Look at you being an adult!" Her grin faded to a more solemn one. "I know you get sick of always having to take the high road with him. It sucks, but he doesn't seem to actually know better. Maybe you'll be able to get through that thick skull of his one of these days."

Ventus scoffed at that. **There's not a hammer strong enough.**

Aqua shrugged. "I mean, you're of _some_ importance to him, right? Why else would he have learned ASL?"

 **So he could know when I'm talking shit about him.** At least, that's what Vanitas had said every time _he'd_ asked.

"That's not why and you both know it," she argued, swiping another fry. The day had been stressful, which warranted a cheat day in her honest opinion.

The rest of their lunch was finished in silence, mainly because it was kind of hard for Ventus to sign and eat at the same time and his food was starting to get cold and the ice in his drink was starting to melt, which made him grimace.

Aqua bagan to pick at her thumbnail as she thought about Terra. He'd only just gotten out of his cast last week and was already back to slinging around around blunt objects in the kendo club. Between him and Ventus, she was going to have a nervous breakdown one of these days. Being the oldest was stressful to say the least.

As if Ventus knew what she was thinking, he signed, **He loves it way too much to quit. That would like asking me not to play the piano or you not to dance. He'd die inside if he did.**

"I know, and I still swear that asshole did it on purpose, that he was angry that Terra had beaten him several years in a row," she mumbled accusingly. "I mean, he didn't even look _sorry_ for it."

 **I'm mainly just happy I can use his other arm as a pillow again. That cast was hell to lie on** , Ventus half joked. He'd been using Terra, Aqua, and Eraqus as pillows since he was a kid and Terra's injury had made the task a little problematic seeing as how it was his right arm, AKA the arm the blond prefered to nap on.

"Do you ever think about more than sleep, food, and piano?" Aqua asked laughingly as she helped him clean up the various wrappers scattered across the table.

He shook his head. **Of course not. you should know better than to ask such a thing.**

"Smartass."

All she received in reply was an ear to ear grin. It brought her so much joy to see him smile like that. It made him seem so different than the broken boy Eraqus had brought home that day oh so very long ago. The broken boy that occasionally peeked his sad little head out on bad days, but managed to stay very well hidden on most.

She reached out to caress his cheek, her fingers trailing lightly over his skin. It was an action that had often brought him comfort in his childhood and still so as a young adult. He leaned into her touch before she pulled her hand back.

"I love you both more than anything else this world could ever offer. I only yell and boss you around because I care, not to be mean. You know that right?"

Ventus stared at her, his eyes misting slightly as he nodded. **Of course I do,** _ **we**_ **do! and we don't mean to worry you, we're just… stupid sometimes.**

"Oh, trust me, I know," she chuckled. "Why else would the two of you attempt to ride a skateboard down six flights of stairs. Eraqus would've killed you if he'd found out."

Ventus grinned at that. **But he didn't because you helped us hide the evidence like a good sister.**

"I was in charge. My ass was on the line too," she laughed as they left the eating area and made their way across campus, cutting across the grass the reach their destination quicker. "But of course neither of you thought about _that_ , just how _epic_ it would be to try and break your necks."

 **Boys run off adrenaline. We need it to survive.**

"Terra tell you that?"

 **Possibly.**

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. She was one hundred percent convinced her brothers would have never made it to adulthood if not for her. They clearly would've died inside a volcano or at the bottom of a ravine or something. She was also sure Ventus would've been worse if he hadn't been introduced to music at such a young age.

"My class is right here. I'll see you later, Ven. _Behave_."

 **I always behave.**

"No you don't."

He really didn't. He always seemed to have a knack for getting into trouble one way or another. Said fact also caused other's to assume that his adoptive father being the headmaster of the academy and a family friend being the college's dean were the only things that kept him from being out on his ass ages ago. These were, for the most part, lies. There was really only two or three instances in his entire life in which Eraqus actually _had_ saved his ass from being expelled and all of which had occurred before he'd even turned eighteen.

Somehow Ventus has accidentally wandered to the music room, completely forgetting that he was supposed to go to the one at Destiny Academy and that the time had been switched to mornings, seeing as how this one was totaled. He was most definitely going to to have to talk to Vanitas the next time he saw him. This had been over the top, even for him.

Just as he was about to turn around he noticed the door was open, which was weird because the place was _supposed_ to off limits and Yin Sid hadn't gotten around to hiring someone to fix it quite yet. Thinking, and somewhat hoping that is was the batshit ravenette, he stepped over the police tape and charged in, hands flaring.

 **What the hell were you thinking-?!**

He blinked slowly. It wasn't Vanitas. It was the kid from last night and guy from the music class. _Riku?_ It was also just occurring to him that he'd never asked the other kid what his name was.

"Uh…" Sora started, unsure of what to say at having being caught.

"He forced me to do it," Riku hastily said as he pointed at Sora, whose mouth opened and closed like a fish floor a good minute.

" _Riku_!"

"What? I wasn't bluffing when I said I'd blame you."

Ventus rolled his eyes as he dug through his bag for his notebook and a pen. He's already learned that neither of them knew sign language, so he wasn't even going to bother. They stopped arguing when they noticed him crouched over, using his thigh as a brace for his notebook.

 _You guys are lucky it was me who found you and not someone else._

"So you're _not_ gunna tell on us?" Sora asked joyously.

 _If you knew my track record, I'm sure you wouldn't be asking that question. By the way, you never told me your name last night._

"How rude of you," Riku drawled amusedly, earning him a glare from Sora.

"It's Sora. And this is Riku," he informed him, all the while never breaking eye contact with his friend.

Ven rolled his eyes. _I already knew_ his _name, dummy. Come on. We need to get out of here before someone else wanders in._

"O-oh. Sure," Sora muttered before he and Riku followed Ventus out, the former almost falling flat on his face when his foot got caught on some tape. Riku, of course, laughed while Ventus chuckled soundlessly.

"So what were _you_ doing back there? You looked pissed when you barged in," Riku told him once they settled down on the grass under a particularly shady tree. "I can't imagine you had any more permission than us to be there."

Ventus's mouth stretched into a thin line as he tried to think of a sensible response. _I got caught up in the moment and was convinced you guys were a_ , he stopped short of writing the word friend. Vanitas most definitely wasn't his friend. _An acquaintance. A very annoying acquaintance that needs to be smacked upside the head for various reasons._

Sora whistled low, resisting the urge to laugh at that last part. "Pissed off much? Does he have something to do with the music room?"

Was Vanitas wrong? Yes. Was he going to take his head off when he found him? Also yes. Was he going to rat him out to a pair of kids he didn't even know? The fact that he was trying to protect his ass even after all the chaos he'd caused made him want to break something.

 _No. We just got in a fight about something and I want to give him a piece of my mind._ He stared at them, mentally groaning at how unconvinced Riku looked. Sora on the other hand looked like he was trying to hold in a lot of energy. Riku glared at him as if knowing what he wanted to ask.

"Sora, no-!"

"Why can't you talk?"

Riku groaned and began rubbing his temples. "Ignore him, he has no sense of boundaries."

"It doesn't hurt to ask," Sora pouted, picking at the the hem of his sweater.

 _You're right, it doesn't._

"So you'll tell us?" He asked, suddenly cheerful once more.

 _No way in hell,_ Ventus wrote, smirking before remembering what he had meant to ask earlier. _Why were you guys in the music room? And aren't you still supposed to be in class?!_

Sora and Riku exchanged nervous glances, the fromer chuckling nervously. "You see…"

"About that..."

"We were kind of wondering what exactly went down," Sora finished, returning to picking at the hem of his sweater. "And as for class, we got let out early due to testing. They only do half days during exams. To relieve stress, I guess?"

Ventus seemed to ponder this, glancing up at the sky as he automatically signed something before remembering that they didn't understand.

 _That still doesn't explain why you guys were in an off limits area. Didn't it occur to you to just ask somebody?_

"We did," Riku spoke up, "and they told us that it was none of our business, which is technically true, but _somebody_ wouldn't let it go." He glared at Sora as he said the last part, causing the brunette to shrink back a bit.

"I'm a man of adventure. It was calling my name," he defended.

"No, you're man of trouble and you enjoy dragging me into shit," Riku fired back.

"We didn't get into trouble this time."

"Yes we did, just by someone who could care less opposed to someone who would've happily reported us," he drawled, glaring once more before turning back towards Ventus. "Thanks for that, by the way. We can't afford to be sent to your dad again. _Especially_ Sora."

Ventus shrugged nonchalantly at that. _Eh, no problem._

They sat in silence for a while, at a complete loss at what to say next until Riku had an idea. "Hey, you play piano, right? You wanna practice with me? I've been working on Chopin's Cello Sonata in G minor and I haven't had a chance to find someone to play the piano piece with me yet. I'd _really_ appreciate it."

Sora stared blankly at his friend, not understanding a single word that just rolled out of his mouth. "Practice what now?"

Ventus's eyes seemed to light up at that. _We can go to my place. I don't have anymore classes today either and I prefer my piano over the one in the music room._

"Let go then. I wanna show Sora what _real_ music sounds like."


	3. Ebony and Melody

**DISCLAIMER:** **I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THE PLOT TO THIS FANFICTION**

 **The piece is the one mentioned in the last chapter Chopin's** _ **Cello Sonata in G minor.**_ **You can look it up on YouTube if you wish to listen to it**

 _Ebony and Melody_

Sora felt lost as he dropped his bag by the door and sat on the couch next to a total stranger as he watched Riku unload his cello out it's case, the painted wood shining like blackened glass under the light. The motions on Riku's part seemed so… natural.

"Ven's found new victims, I see," the guy laughed before taking a bite out of a severely overloaded sandwich. "My name's Terra, by the way. I'm Ven's big bro."

"I'm Sora and that's Riku. We live in the apartment under yours," Sora informed him as he settled into the couch.

Terra laughed again. "Oh, geez. I'm sure Ven's woken you up quite a few times, then." He laughed even harder as Ven signed something at him. "I'm just joking. Lighten up."

"He has, but I normally don't mind. It's actually pretty relaxing most nights," Sora admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Riku always sleeps straight though it."

The silver haired boy shrugged at that. "I'm a heavily sleeper, what can I say?"

"Same. I almost always sleep through his insomnia driven piano concerts, unless he gets _too_ into it," Terra replied, taking another bite. He said something else, but Sora couldn't make it out past the food in his mouth.

As Ventus sat down on the bench in front of what was probably one of the most beautiful grand pianos Sora had ever seen, which wasn't a lot to be honest, he signed something and Terra immediately translated.

"He wants to know why this specific piece, Riku was it?"

Riku nodded in affirmation. "It's the piece I chose to play at the spring gala. I _was_ going to do something else, but this one always kinda stood out to me."

"So you selected it on impulse," Sora drawled amusedly.

"Possibly,"

Ventus signed something else and Terra tilted his head to the side. "Really? Oh yeah! I remember now. Nevermind."

"What did he say," Sora and Riku asked simultaneously.

"He played that same piece in a competition as a kid. Oh, and now he wants to know if you're ready."

"I'm good to go whenever he is," Riku replied, sitting down in a chair and holding his bow at the ready.

After a mutual nod, Ventus started to play, Riku following suit not long after and Sora began to feel himself melt into the melody. His mind began to wander as he watched Ventus's hands dance over the ivory keys and Riku's over his cello's strings. It was like they had become two completely different people. Like they had entered a completely different _world_.

"This is classical music, right?" He muttered to himself in confusion. It hadn't really ever appealed to him before now and he just couldn't wrap his head around _why_. Was it because he could see the musicians? Was it because one of them was his friend? He was… spellbound.

"It really _is_ incredible to watch," Terra whispered eventually and it made Sora wonder if he felt the same. If this was a feeling that never faded over time. This surely wasn't the first time he'd watched Ventus play, and yet he looked just as amazed by it as Sora.

"Yeah…"

The melodies of the Ventus's piano and Riku cello mixed and harmonised in a way that made the notes flow and dance throughout the entire apartment, leaving a feeling of warm contentment. Suddenly, the pace sped up to a waltz of sorts and Sora couldn't help but sit straight up, scooching to the very edge of his seat, his body aching to do something to release the energy threatening to burst from deep within his chest.

The last time Sora had _actually_ watched Riku play had been when they were literal children, but his performance in his cluttered bedroom hadn't been remotely close to what he was witnessing right now. He'd never seen his friend look so _calm_ , so at ease at what he was doing. If it wasn't for the piercing green eyes, punkish earrings, and messy silver hair tucked into a bun, he would've assumed he was someone else.

The same applied to Ventus and he barely even knew the guy. It almost seemed as if his fingers were expressing what his voice couldn't, the melodious notes singing a song as old as it was beautiful. It was utterly spectacular and before he knew it, it was over, his heart falling as the last notes flowed out, their hands withdrawing from their respective instruments shortly after.

Riku blinked slowly, chuckling at his friend's expression. "I told you we were gunna show you what real music sounds like."

"I… It was," he started slowly, his gaze drifting across the room as a searched for words that just weren't there. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Yeah right. You were practically melting all over their couch. You like it and you know it," Riku gloated as he returned his cello and bow to their case, nodding towards Ven as a thank you of sorts. "It sounded so much better with a piano."

Ventus had retrieved his notebook once more. _No problem. I don't normally have anyone to practice with outside of class either. No one really wants to hang out with the disabled guy, it seems._

Sora puffed out his cheeks. "That's rude! I think I'd probably slug a few people if I was in that position."

"He _has_ ," Terra informed them as he took his plate to the sink. "Which is why our sister has a strict no fighting policy now. Ven doesn't exactly have the best hold on his temper when people start bad mouthing him."

 **Jackass.**

"Don't let Aqua catch you using that kind of language," Terra joked, "she'll make you eat soap."

 **She's the one who taught me that one to begin with** , Ventus signed, sticking his tongue out. **Besides, it's Eraqus that has a problem with swearing, not her.**

"True… What?" He asked, noticing Sora staring at them with stars in his eyes.

"So Ven's actually talking to you by moving his hands like that?" He asked in amazement. "And you _actually_ understand him?"

Terra nodded.

"And it's easier for him than writing everything down?"

Terra and Ventus exchanged a look before he nodded again. They both had a feeling as to where he was going with this.

"Do you think you could teach me, or at least tell me how I can learn? I'd like to talk to Ven without him having to you a notebook," Sora announced over enthusiastically.

"Me too if you wouldn't mind," Riku cut in, looking a bit embarrassed. "It looks kind of cool."

 **You think Aqua would want to help teach them?**

"She's always up for that sort of thing," Terra replied, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Besides," Sora started. "I need another language credit even if I _do_ pass German this semester and I honestly don't think I can handle another run at that."

"Should've known there was an ulterior motive," Riku deadpanned, shaking his head. "And here I thought you were trying to do good."

"I _am_ trying to do good. I'm just killing two birds with one stone is all," he argued, his tanned cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "There's nothing wrong with that." He turned back towards Terra and Ventus. "Right?"

"No."

 _Of course not._

Sora stared at the notebook blankly. "I wasn't aware you could hear sarcasm in written words before now."

 _changing_ , Ventus wrote, grinning and shaking in a way that made Sora realise he was laughing at him.

"He also gets in trouble for being a sassy asshole," Terra threw in, though he too was laughing now. "It doesn't help that ASL and writing crap down comes off blunt as hell. He's accidentally started quite a few fights that way." More laughter. "Like, there is no way for him to discreetly call bullshit. It's hilarious."

"Why's that?" Riku asked, genuinely curious.

Terra and Ventus exchanged grins before simultaneously performing the sign, to which Riku and Sora _immediately_ understood.

"Oh my god. It really-!" Riku was cut off by Sora's laughter.

"It legit looks like a bull shitting!" Sora exclaimed, his face turning red as he bent over laughing. "That's amazing. It truly is. Yeah, I most definitely have to learn this _now_."

Terra and Ventus exchanged another look" grinning the whole time.

 **We've created a monster.**


	4. Burnin' Bottles

**DISCLAIMER:** **I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THIS PLOT. NOW HAVE A GOOD DAY AND ENJOY**

 _Burnin' Bottles_

Vanitas groaned as he stared at the note taped to his door and resisted the urge to slam his head against the wall. He had no doubts it was from Ventus regarding the firework incident. He had to admit that it wasn't his proudest moment, but he was just so _pissed_ and oh so very _drunk_. His judgement has been severely altered by the half a bottle of whiskey he had drunk earlier that night.

He groaned once more as he ripped it from the door and stepped inside his messy apartment. It was nothing like the one Ventus lived in, his own being significantly smaller and dingier seeing as how it was in a tiny building in one of the sketcher parts of town. He kept telling Ventus not to come here. He was, though he'd never admit it, worried the guy would get jumped or something, the fact that he was unable talk let alone call for help if something _did_ happen worsening said fear.

He opened the fridge and cracked open a soda, nearly choking on it when turned around to find the blond previously mentioned flopped on his couch taking a nap. "The hell are you doing here?!" He demanded, shaking him awake.

Ventus blinked at him groggily for a good minute before signing a response. **I've been trying to get ahold of you for three days.** He paused to yawn. **People have been asking if you're the one who trashed the music room. I covered for you and said you were at my place all that night. You're** _ **welcome**_ **.**

"I didn't ask you to do that," Vanitas grumbled, pulling Ventus's legs off the couch so that he could sit down. "Also, why leave a note if you were planning on hanging around?"

Ventus stared at him in confusion, his head tilting to the side. **I didn't leave a note.**

Vanitas's gaze switched back and forth between Ventus and the white envelope in his hand before ripping it open. Ventus, unsurprisingly, leaned in close so that he could read it as well. It was from the college.

"Shit."

 **I don't think they bought it.**

"You don't say," Vanitas sarcastically replied, his expression blank. He groaned as he leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes, reluctantly opening them at the sound of Ventus clicking his tongue.

 **Maybe it's not about the music room? Why did you do that anyways? Was it because of the thing? I wasn't trying to be mean, it's just kind of hard for it not to seem that way sometimes** , Ventus signed, looking a combination of apologetic and annoyed.

"I know, I know. I actually wasn't that pissed about it after I spent a few hours playing video games, but then I started drinking and drunk me apparently had different thoughts, and the next thing I knew I was buying thirty dollars worth of fireworks to set loose inside the music room," Vanitas confessed, his face heating up. The more he thought about that night the worse he felt. He had overreacted and he knew it. "I don't think I'll be drinking again any time soon."

 **Good. You're in deep enough shit as it is.**

…

"You get a chance to talk to him?" Aqua asked as he walked in the door. Riku, Sora and a new girl with red hair sat in front of her at the table. Ventus casually waved at them.

 **I went to his place. I think Yen Sid figured out it was him. He got a note telling him to show up at his office later today** , He informed her before pointing to Kairi curiously.

"That's Kairi. She's Sora and Riku's friend. She wants to learn too."

"Nice to meet you," Kairi joyously told him before quickly turning back towards Aqua. "Wait. How would I sign that?"

"Like this," Aqua told her, brushing her palms against each other horizontally, holding her hands in fists with her index fingers erect before bumping her hands together, and finally pointing at Kairi with her dominant hand.

The red haired girl repeated the motion a few times before direction it toward Ventus. "Did I do good?" He gave her an over enthusiastic thumbs up, much to her joy. Meanwhile, Sora was staring at her in some sort of trance.

"She's learned more in one hour than we have in two days," he muttered in disbelief.

"It's not that hard," she chimed, "You just have to pay attention."

Ventus tapped Aqua's shoulder to make sure he had her attention. **I refilled Vanitas phone. He didn't have to money to buy another card. That's why he wasn't answering when I texted him.**

"I swear," she muttered, shaking her head. "Ok, that's fine, just don't forget to write it down somewhere so that you don't forget and wonder were you spent fifty bucks."

"I saw the word phone?" Sora half said, half asked. "You talk on the phone? How?"

Ventus rolled his eyes and Aqua laughed. "He texts. You know, that thing you can do with your thumbs."

"Dumbass," Riku muttered, grinning.

"Shut _up_."

Right then in that moment Ventus had a seemingly brilliant idea. He ran to his room and grabbed a notebook before running back, a grin plastered on his face.

 _I have an idea that might help you learn faster._

"And what would that be?" Aqua asked him genuinely curious as to what her brother was up to. "If you're suggesting that thing Terra tried when _we_ were learning, I think I should remind you of how disastrous _that_ turned out."

Ventus stared into void at that, eventually laughing, abit silently, as he recalled the incident she was referring to. He quickly mouthed the word _no_. He had no intention of repeating _that_ disaster.

 _What I was thinking is that Me, and possibly Aqua and Terra could sign whatever you and them are saying as you and them say it, kind of like how a translator would?_

The four of them blinked slowly as they read the message.

"That's not that bad of an idea. I mean, it theory it _should_ work," Riku finally said, breaking the silence and earning a few nods of agreement.

"We could also sign what _we_ know when we talk so that we don't forget anything. _Using_ information helps you _keep_ information," Kairi threw in, smiling as the pulled out a bag of cheese doodles.

"The fact that you always have bag of those is kinda scary," Sora joked. "That company could run solely on you alone, I'd bet."

Kairi puffed out her cheeks at that. "I'm a growing girl. I need sustenance." She paused. "In the form of fatty puffs of cheese. Oh! Is that how you say cheese?!"

Ventus smirked before nodding. It seemed his idea was already working.

" _Awesome_."

"Her eyes are sparkling," Riku said slowly, leaning away from her.

"They really are," Aqua added. "Does she really like cheese that much?"

"She puts four slices on her cheese burgers," Sora informed her. " _Per_ patty, so yes... Yes she does."

"I even buy the little cheese wheels in the wax wrappings. You know, the kind with the cute little cow on them," Kairi announced happily, not caring that her apparent cheese addiction was the topic of choice. She stopped being sensitive about such things ages ago. "What about you, Ven. What's your favorite food?"

 _I like macaroni. I once ate three pots worth. It would've been four, but Aqua came home and caught me._

"That's a lot of cheese," Sora muttered in disbelief.

"He's lucky he didn't puke everywhere or have to get his stomach pumped. He spent the rest of the day on the couch in complete and utter agony," Aqua explained, her tone monotone.

 _It was worth it_ , He wrote, smiling.

The five of them talked for what felt like ages, Aqua and Ventus taking turn signing everything that was said to help their new friends learn, stopping only when Kairi noticed the time and announced that she need to get home before her mom flipped out and started calling everyone she knew, the police included, to make sure she hadn't been kidnapped or something of the like.

"It was really nice meeting you," she said as tucked her things back into her bag, smiling graciously, before signing _goodbye_ just as Ventus had shown her.

Seeing as how Sora and Riku lived by themselves right below the apartment they were currently occupying, they agreed to stay over for dinner upon Aqua's polite insistence. The two boys immediately clamped up as Eraqus walked in the door, the deafening silence broken by the sound of Aqua breaking spaghetti noodles over a bot of boiling water. She glanced back and forth between them curiously before realising the cause if their sudden silence. She'd forgotten up until that very moment that her adoptive father was the headmaster of the very school they attended.

"Dude, it's the headmaster," Sora hissed, slitting straight up in his seat as the older man sat calmly across from them, smiling gently.

"Hello, Sora, Riku," He said, looking to each of them in turn. Neither of them seemed to notice the mischievous glint in his eye. "I can't say I ever imagined seeing either you in my home opposed to my office. Did I do something wrong? Something deserving of detention perhaps?"

Sora couldn't help but make an utterly confused face, his mouth resembling a stretched out rubber band as he desperately tried to remember how to _speak_. He'd known Headmaster Eraqus was Terra, Aqua, and Ventus's dad, but that somehow didn't prepare him for this. "What? _No_! I'd never-"

"He's messing with you, Sora. Relax," Aqua told him laughingly before ordering Ventus to stir the sauce while she did something in the other room.

"Oh. Yes. Of course," Sora squeaked, earning a laugh from the older man.

Eraqus turned to face Ventus, then, leaning one arm on the back of the chair and resting his head on his fist. "Why didn't any of you mention we were having company for dinner and give me enough time to spruce myself up a bit? I look horrible."

Ventus looked at a loss as to what he should do. He couldn't sign and stir at the same time, so instead he opted into pressing his mouth into a thin line instead, his shoulders hunched as he recoiled into himself. Thankfully, Riku came to his rescue.

"We were invited over and Aqua asked us to stay for dinner later on in our visit… Sir," he promptly informed him. Eraqus waved him off with his free hand.

"I figured as such. Aqua tends to do stuff like that lot. My main concern is more or less how well the two of you have been getting along with Ventus," he admitted, glancing at the blond. "He has a tendency to start fights. He swears he doesn't mean to, but I've come to learn that that's usually a lie."

In that moment Ventus had started to resemble a turtle as he attempted to further withdraw inside an invisible shell, all the the while shaking his head and mouthing something that resembled "no I don't."

"Oh, yes you do," he argued back before returning his attention back to the teenagers sitting across from him. "Like I said, if he ever tells either of you otherwise he's probably lying. He enjoys a good brawl. He once broke another kids nose for telling him he was just pretending not to to talk for attention."

"That little jerkface totally deserved it," Terra called from the living room. "Go, Ven, go!"

"That's not the point, Terra," Eraqus called back. "He should have informed someone instead decking the poor child in the face. That mess took forever for me to sort out. He caused trouble for more than just himself for behaving in such a way."

Sora sat in disbelief. Ven had basically been bullied for not being able to talk. Such an idea not only astounded him, but made him wonder if he'd been putting up that his whole life before he recalled what he'd said, well, _written_ a few days prior. ' _No one really wants to hang out with the disabled guy, it seems.'_ It… frustrated Sora. Ventus was such a cool person. The way some people treated him just didn't seem fair.

"Ok, I'm tagging you out. You can go sit down now," Aqua told Ventus as she reclaimed the wooden spoon, tasting a bit of the sauce. "Oh, it's tastes good. Did you add something?"

 **You forgot to add salt.**

"What? Really? I knew it was missing _something_ ," she muttered, mostly to herself as she stared into the pot. "Anyhoo, this is pretty much done. Everyone grab a plate and get as much as you want. Terra! Food time!"

The muscular brunette waltzed happily into the kitchen at that, a huge grin on his face. "Aqua makes the best spaghetti. Oh, we should invite them over the next time Ventus makes his ravioli. It's _really_ good, which is to be expected when it's made by a guy who lives for pasta dishes, I guess."

The blond kissed his fingertips like an Italian chef at that, earning a laugh from everyone.

"Only if it's no trouble," Riku replied as he and Sora got up to fix their own plates.

"We got any cheese?" Terra asked as he dug through the fridge, balancing his full plate on one hand as he rifled around in the door they kept such things in, disappointment evident in his voice when he didn't find what he was searching for. Aqua promptly took his plate, worried he was going to spill it all over her freshly mopped floor.

"No, and that's disgusting, by the way," Aqua told him, monotone as she placed bother their plates on the table.

Terra stared at her blankly before staring past her at Ventus who was clutching a white bottle. "And yet you find him mixing ranch into his to be perfectly fine."

She raised an eyebrow at that, grimacing slightly. "It's not that I find it fine, I just gave up on fighting him on it years ago."

Sora leaned over next Ventus's ear and whispered, "I do it too. It always drove my mom nuts." They both began to chuckle as Ventus passed the bottle over to his new partner in food crime, as Aqua would later call it.

And now he has little dude in on the conspiracy," Terra announced as he sat down between Eraqus and Riku, still bitter over his lack of cheese. "You're seriously weird for that. Both of you."

 **Kiss my ass** , Ventus signed, grinning.

"Language," Eraqus warned, cutting his noodles with a knife.

At this point it seemed that Aqua and Riku were the only ones at the table that ate, and enjoyed, their spaghetti normally. Their eyes met and they held contact for a while, silently expressing their joy of finding someone who wasn't, at least in their own minds, completely and utterly crazy.

Halfway through the dinner, Ventus's phone went off and it _kept_ going off until he excused himself and wandered into the living room with it, texting like lightning to whomever was blowing his phone up. He looked concerned, which in turn concerned everyone watching him.

 **I gotta go. I'll be back in a little bit** , He informed them before he snatched his car keys off the counter and walked out the door, not waiting to see what anyone had to say in the matter. Eraqus already knew what is was about from his earlier discussion with Yen Sid and groaned at what would no doubt be an argument between him and his youngest child when he got back. It was going to be a long night.


	5. Frozen Memories

**DISCLAIMER:** **I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THIS PLOT**

 _Frozen Memories_

"Who do you think he went to see?" Sora asked as he lied on the floor, his feet propped on the couch as he watched the ceiling fan turn in slow cycles. It was covered in dust, which made him wonder where their duster even _was._ "Whatever it was, it seemed important."

"I really shouldn't have to say this, but not everything's your business, Sora," Riku deadpanned as he tried to do something with his hair. He predictably settled on throwing it into a manbun, as Sora liked to call it.

He could hear piano playing and light thumping, so Aqua and Ventus were probably practicing for the ballet thing. He hadn't seen any of them since dinner a few days prior and he really wanted to ask them some things. _Personal_ things that the common sense part of his brain, much like Riku, kept telling him a lay off about.

"So, I don't know if you noticed, but Ven sorta has this scar on the side of his neck and I'm thinking that might be connected to his inability to speak," he said suddenly, catching Riku off guard.

The silver haired boy stared at him blankly, a rubber band hanging limply from his mouth, his hand posed to grab it as his other hand held his hair. He blinked slowly. "Only you'd notice something like that. That's kind of creepy, actually. You shouldn't stare at people that closely."

Sora sat up then, frowning at his friend. "I wasn't staring, I just happened to notice it when I was sitting next to him the other night. It's kinda faint, but it's there. You think it was an accident, or that maybe someone did it to him on purpose?"

"Sora… Please for the love of _God_ don't ask him about it. If he wanted to talk about it, he would've told us already," Riku scolded before returning to fixing his hair.

"But-!"

"You don't like for people to ask about your dad and I'm pretty sure he feels the same about his voice. Some things are better left on a need to know basis and you should know that better than anyone, Sora."

That sobered the brunette up significantly. Riku had a point, and a damn good one at that.

"Sorry, I just…" Riku didn't know what to say next. He'd struck a very tender nerve in his friend without meaning to.

A solemn smile graced Sora's lips. In all honestly, such an expression looked weird on him. "You're just trying to keep me from hurting someone. It's fine. Really. I wasn't thinking and I probably would've made him hate me had I actually asked him like I planned on doing."

That was the problem with being overly curious, he sometimes did things without thinking them through, and some of those things stressed his relationships with others until they snapped like the black rubber bands scattered all over Riku's nightstand. He also, more often than not, didn't even realise the severity of his actions until the damage had already been done. That's why he was glad to have Riku as his friend. He was good at reeling him in before he could cause nuclear situations.

The piano playing cut of suddenly, making them both wonder if everything was alright as they heard hurried footsteps and a door slamming. They exchanged a glance.

"You think everything's alright up there?" Sora eventually asked.

"They probably just got into a fight over something, the music maybe. Ven can be pretty bossy about it sometimes," Riku explained, vividly recalling a fellow student cussing the blond out for complaining about the way he played. "He doesn't mean to, I don't think, but he is. Honestly I don't think the fact that it takes him a while to get someone's attention before scolding them helps. He's kinda already pissed and impatient by the time he does."

"I can see how," Sora declared as he flopped back down to resume his fan watching. "Especially in a room full of loud instruments."

"And most people don't understand ASL, so he has to write whatever he's trying to say down and _hope_ they take the time to read it," Riku continued. Suddenly they were both very glad that they were both fully functioning and didn't have to go through all the crap Ventus did on a daily basis.

"Ok, this is kind of random, but does Ventus have a job? Like an actual job that he gets paid for," Sora asked, then. Ventus always seemed to have money on him, but he didn't strike him as the kind of person that sat on his ass and relied on his family for money.

The couch squeaked in protest as Riku flopped onto it to join Sora in gazing at the dusty ceiling fan, him pushing Sora's feet out the way on his way down. "He works at some shop at the mall. The one with the loud music and t-shirts on every wall."

"The place you bought my space taco shirt from?"

"That's the one," Riku confirmed, tucking his arms under his head.

Sora raised an eyebrow at that. It didn't exactly seem like that kind of place Ventus would enjoy shopping, let alone working at. "You sure about that?"

"That's what Terra told me. Ven and some other guy always work the same shifts for communication reasons." Riku paused, trying to remember what the older man had told him exactly. "Apparently Ven and another co-worker, his manager I think, got into a fight of sorts when he first started because she didn't know what he needed because she doesn't understand ASL and he'd lost his notebook, so now in order to keep his job there without getting into fights with her constantly, this other dude has to share shifts with him."

Sora whistled long and low before nudging Riku with his foot.

"What?"

"You wanna go get some ice cream?"

"It's, like, forty degrees outside and you want ice cream?" Riku asked is disbelief. He shouldn't have been surprised seeing as how this was the same kid who ordered hot chocolate on the hottest day of summer.

"It's never too cold for ice cream." Sora seemed to live by beliefs of that nature; the kind of beliefs that made most people look at him like he'd lost his marbles. What was the point of living if wasn't to the fullest, is how he once described it to Riku. That same logic also often resulted in him doing things that got him in major trouble. Bringing a nerf gun to school and pelting a student he didn't like with about a hundred foam darts when he was seven being a prime example. His mother had been absolutely furious when the school informed her of said incident.

"Ok, fine, but I'm not getting any," Riku sighed as he dug through a pile of half folded laundry for his coat, involuntarily rolling his eyes at his friend as he deemed doubling up on sweaters to be good enough for the five minute trek to the diner down the street.

According to Mickey, the music teacher, said diner's burgers were to die for. The old man was usually right when it came to such things, so Riku had actually been looking for an excuse to stop by there for a while. He informed Sora as such as they walked in, sighing in relief as they settled in a booth at the back of the warm building.

A young woman whose name tag read _Tifa_ smiled as she walked over and took their orders, her expression slightly confused as Sora ordered his beloved ice cream. "A little chilly for that, don't you think?"

"It's never too cold for ice cream," He informed her with enthusiasm.

"You sound like a friend of mine with that," she chuckled as she finished jotting down their orders, returning not ten minutes latter their food. "Enjoy."

Sora picked up his spoon and dug in without a second's hesitation, a childish grin spread across his face, forming tiny dimples in his cheeks. Old ladies love his dimples and often pinched him adoringly for them no matter how old he got. Riku stared at him monotone as he munched on his burger.

"Slow down before you get-"

The spoon hit the table with a loud clatter as Sora dropped it to clutch his head with both hands, whimpering slightly as his whole body tensed up. Riku sighed in exasperation as he watched the brunette squirm in his seat.

"Brain freeze…" He plopped his chin in his hand, then, debating the pros and cons of making fun of his friend. "You always do this. One would think you'd learn."

"I don't mean too," Sora hissed between grit teeth before desperately shoving his thumb against the roof of his mouth, hoping for it to bring him some sort of relief.

"Dumbass."

"Shaht ahp."

"What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of your brain freezing," Riku taunted, his grin nothing short of shit eating as he took a sip of his coke.

Eventually, the brain freeze faded and Sora returned to his ice cream, abit much slower this time around. When they were finished Riku made Sora leave a decent tip for ruckus he caused.

"I didn't cause a ruckus," He argued as they walked down the cracked sidewalk, detouring through the park to get a little bit more fresh air before they shut themselves back in once more. Sora, expectantly asked to pet almost every dog they passed, making the stroll take much longer than it needed to.

"Five separate booths were staring at you throughout the entire ordeal. You did, in fact, cause a ruckus," Riku argued back as he kicked a rock, watching it skid across the dirt until it flung itself into the pond with an audible _plop_. "And the kid at the counter started copying you. Her mom looked embarrassed."

"Ok, that is _so_ not my fault. I can't be blamed for other people's actions."

They paused in front of a defaced statue. It was of an old guy who'd been considered one of the city council's most respected members for over thirty years up until some fiasco involving some kids a little over a decade prior. He was spending what was left of his life rotting in a jail cell for it, too. Apparently the mayor at the time did his best to hide the evidence pointing to the obvious abuse he'd inflicted onto the poor children, which didn't bode well with the the people of Heartsville when it went public, costing him his status as not only the mayor, but as a respected part of community. He'd spent a bit of time in jail as well for obstruction of justice, but had been released since.

Sora let out a whistle at some of the creative profanity spray painted at the statue's base. "What was it he did again?"

"Beat the shit out of some kids he was fostering, I think. A lot of people think he didn't really like kids and was only doing it to look good in the public eye," Riku informed him. He rocked back and forth on his heels a for a bit as he thought on it. "That has to be horrible, though."

"What?"

"Losing your family and getting handed over to someone who's supposed to love and take care of you only for them to turn around and try to kill you."

A depressed air settled over the two boys then and it only got worse the more they thought about it. Sora thought about his dad's death then about how much harder it would've been had he not been in such a nurturing environment. The thought brought him to tears. Tears he didn't realise he'd been shedding until he felt Riku rub his coat sleeve against his cheek.

"You okay?" He worriedly asked him, unsure of what to do. He wasn't used to sad Sora, just happy hyper ball of literal sunshine Sora. It had him on the verge of panicking, which was why he was rubbing his sleeves all over the other's boys face in the middle of a public area.

He gently pushed Riku's hands, or sleeves rather, away from him, sniffing deeply before letting out a shaky breath."Yeah, just thinking about some things. Today seems to be full of that. Thinking, I mean."

Riku chuckled half heartedly at that. "Your poor brain isn't used to this much thinking. It's gunna short circuit if you're not careful."

"I know, right?!" Sora shouted, forcing a grin. He began grabbing at his head from all angles as he started to speed walk to the park exit closest to them. "What if it explodes or something? I can't afford brain surgery, my job at the supermarket won't cover that!"

They laughed at that, the mood from earlier gradually fading away like one's breath on a winter day. A day like today. The perfect kind of weather for ice cream.


	6. A Cat Named Bitch

**DISCLAIMER:** **I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THE PLOT TO THIS STORY**

 _A Cat Named Bitch_

He was here because he wanted to buy Riku a new shirt to make up for accidentally dumping ketchup on his dancing cactuar one a few weeks back, that was all. At least, that's what he kept telling himself to make it seem less like he was was spying on Ventus and more like a normal venture to the mall, which he'd normally never visited on a week day. Riku would surely scold him if he found out what he was doing.

He timidly peeked into the dark store that radiated a sense of rebellion with it's spray painted walls and loud music, the shelves lined with heavy metal and cute anime memorabilia alike. A guy with black hair, spider bites and ears full of piercings immediately noticed him and grinned as he leaned against the counter.

Sora began to wonder if he'd came during the wrong shift or even to the wrong store for that matter. He pressed his mouth into a thin line as he tried to think of what to say, desperately wanting to ask the scary looking guy whose hair was, surprisingly, styled similar to his own if Ventus was working, but unable to force himself to open his damn mouth.

"You sure you in the right store, Cupcake? You look a little lost," he taunted, humor flashing in his golden eyes. His amused expression dropped as a woman poked her head out a door in the back of the small store and called for him, her tone agitated.

"I need you to switch with Mr. Mime back here. He insists on writing full paragraphs everytime I ask him something which is making this take way too fucking long," she bitched, leaning against the doorframe as she waited for an answer.

"He's not a mime, Larxene. Don't call him that." he complained as he reluctantly left for the back room.

Sora could hear him talking to someone, Ventus he assumed judging from the woman's nickname, and not even a minute later the blond himself emerged, throwing a glare in the woman's direction as he marched over to his new post at the counter, slamming his notebook down none to gently. He shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair looking like he wanted scream or, at the very least, hit something. _Repeatedly_.

Sora slowly sidestepped into the store and browsed the shirt section to not only give Ventus some time to cool down, but to not make him going there in the first place seem weird. Well, _weirder_. He eventually settled on a graphic t-shirt with music notes flowing across it. He figured Riku would enjoy adding it to his wardrobe seeing as how he was a major music lover and all. He casually approached the counter with it, snatching a galaxy button on his way. Ventus stared at him blankly before scribbling something in his notebook.

 _What are you doing here?_

"Uh, just buying Riku a new shirt. I kinda trashed one of his a few weeks back on accident." It _technically_ wasn't a lie.

 _And you just so happened to drop by during_ my _shift? Try again, sky boi_ , Ventus wrote, his eyebrows cocked.

A bead of sweat ran down Sora's back as he tried to think of another excuse, but alas, he'd been caught red handed. "Ok, maybe I was curious about where you worked and wanted to see, but I really did trash one of Riku's shirts." He made direct eye contact with Ventus. "And he was legit pissed, so I really _have_ been meaning to buy him a new one."

Ventus rolled his eyes as he took the shirt and the button to ring them up, turning the screen attached to the outdated cash register around so that Sora could see how much he owed. He quickly forked the money over and Ventus handed him his stuff after stapling a coupon to his receipt and dumping it in the bag with the rest of his stuff.

Sora shifted his weight back and forth as he tried to come up with something to talk about, seeing as how the store was practically empty anyways and he hated to have come all this way just for one lousy shirt and a button. " _So,_ who was that guy with all the piercings?"

 _Vanitas. He's an asshole, but his bark is way worse than his bite. He's harmless as long as he's sober._

"He's a friend of yours, then? Can he use ASL too, or do you have to use the notebook with him as well?" Sora asked, somewhat feeling as if he might be pressing buttons.

 _He's… an_ acquaintance _. And yes, he can use ASL. Mainly so he call me out when I talk shit._

That didn't seem entirely true to Sora. Not many people would go out of their way to learn another language just to call someone out. Their relationship was just complicated, he guessed.

 _My shift ends in thirty minutes if you want to hang out._

The younger of the two's eyes lit up at that. He hadn't had a chance to hang out one on one with Ventus since they'd met and the idea excited him. "Yes! I mean…" He cleared his throat, deepening his tone slightly. "Of course."

A soundless laugh escaped Ventus at that, his eyes shining. That shine seemed to increase as he signed something at the black haired guy, Vanitas, as he re-emerged from the back room.

"The hell you calling a bitch, mermaid boy," He fired back humorously. Ventus stuck his tongue out in response as Sora stared at the two in confusion. For someone he claimed wasn't his friend, the two of them sure did act pretty friendly. He picked Up Ventus's notebook, much to the blond's alarm and glanced between him and Sora. "Don't forget that you're my ride home and ditch me me here while you have fun with Cupcake. That's a long way to have to go without a bus pass."

 **I won't, I won't.**

"Go chill in the food court or something," Vanitas instructed Sora as he waved him off. "Miss Manager will be steamed if she catches us chillin' at the very end of our shift. I swear that woman doesn't know when to let up."

 _Go on. We'll meet you there_ , Ventus wrote, a less energetic smile gracing his lips at the mention of Larxene. If it was up to her, Ventus would have been fired ages ago, but Vanitas had gone off on her the last time she so much as hinted at it, thus saving the blond's job, though neither of them doubted they would both be out the door at the first _legal_ opportunity she saw.

Sora reluctantly obeyed, magically finding himself in a line and eating a slice of pizza he bought without really meaning to when the older males finally approached him sometime later, Ventus twirling his keys around his index finger as they did. He promptly handed Sora a note.

 _You and Vanitas are going to have to play nice while I drive. If I have to stop to separate you two I will_ not _be happy._

Sora blinked at that, frowning slightly at the blank look Vanitas was giving him as he read the note. He had a feeling Ventus had given him a lecture of sorts before they'd arrived and said note was just him trying to make it feel less like he was singling the ravenette out.

Ventus waved for them to follow, suppressing a shiver as they stepped out into the chilly air. The temperature had been fluctuating like crazy as of late, but at least it had been gradually getting warmer. He made a beeline to his car, his companions hot on his heels as they too wanted to get out of the cold wind as soon as possible. Vanitas didn't hesitate to crank the heater up to _hell_ as he slid in, earning him a light slap on the wrist from Ventus before he turned it down considerably.

 **My car, my rules.**

Sora thought of something as he buckled his seatbelt, a thought that Riku would've surely shutdown before he could say had he been there, but he wasn't, so Sora said it anyways. "I thought mute people couldn't drive."

There was an audible thud as Ventus slammed his head against the steering wheel in exasperation, an air of irritation radiating from him that seemed to drift towards Vanitas. He shook his head as he answered for his _not_ friend. "You're thinking about _deaf_ people, Cupcake, and _technically_ they can drive too, same as any person who isn't legally blind and of age with a license." He shook his head once more. "The hell did you _find_ this kid? The school for the mentally retarded?"

 **We talked about this before we even got in the car. Be** _ **nice**_ , Ventus warned him before pulling out of the parking lot. He had a feeling this was going to be a long ride with those two trapped in the same car. Thankfully, the first five minutes were quiet, that is until they passed a woman with a a _very_ fluffy dog, which promptly set the car's youngest occupant off.

" _Oh em gee_ … It's so _cute_! Hey, cute puppy!" He yelled as he pressed himself against the cold glass not caring that said dog didn't notice let alone hear him. Vanitas groaned as he slouched in his seat upfront, earning a pointed look from Ventus. He pretended not to notice. "Do you not like animals, Vani?"

Vanitas choked on his own spit at the nickname before whipping around in his seat to face the brunette, not noticing how Ventus's grip on the steering wheel tightened in dread. "Oh, no you don't! I don't do nicknames, Cupcake, so don't even start with that shit. And I'll have you know I _love_ animals, I just don't enjoy watching people make idiots of themselves in public over them."

"Oh… Well, do _you_ have any pets? I have a parakeet named Hana, but she's with my mom," Sora informed him happily as he leaned back against the soft leather.

An amused grin spread across Vanitas's face as he purposely ignored Ventus's frantic shaking of the head. "I have a cat. Her name is Bitch."

It was Sora's turn to almost choke on his own saliva. "What kind of a name is _that_?! You're supposed to giving pets _loving_ names! Yours is just so… _mean_."

"No it's not. She's my sassy little bitch, so I named her Bitch." He paused, as he turned back around in his seat so that Sora couldn't see his face. "And I'll have you know I picked that name with _plenty_ of love."

As much as Sora didn't want to believe him, the punkish male in front seat seemed sincere. Painfully so.

The next few minutes were silent until Ventus brought the vehicle to a halt in front of a slightly _questionable_ building. Surely Vanitas don't live _here_ , right? This was proven to in fact be the ravenette's place of residence when Ventus removed the key from the ignition before motioning for Sora to get out and follow. He stuck close as he followed the older males up a few sets of stairs into an apartment that looked considerably nicer than the outside of the building. Clearly Vanitas cared more about his living space than he'd previously thought.

As if on cue a black cat with long fur and mismatched eyes trotted up them, meowing for attention. As Sora leaned down to pet her, he noticed that her heart shaped tag did in fact read _Bitch_.

"Careful, she likes to bite," Vanitas warned falsely as he dig through a drawer in search of something that Sora, bluntly, had no interest in, not when there was a kitty to pet.

 **So I talked to my dad and he agreed to let you help out at the academy with me and that it would count as your community service** , Ventus signed, looking annoyed at the look Vanitas was giving him. **It's better than picking up trash on the side of road dressed like a traffic cone. Be grateful for once, you asshole.**

Vanitas rolled his eyes at that. "I am, I am, I just wish I didn't have to deal with a bunch of rich teenagers who are convinced they're gunna be the next Beethoven. From what I've heard you say about it, it's gunna a major pain in the ass."

 **It's not** _ **that**_ **bad, I just have a harder time getting my point across to them sometimes due to the whole not talking thing.** Ventus began to fiddle with his bangs, then. He and Eraqus had had a major fight over the whole fiasco and thinking about it made him want to lock himself in his room and curl up in a ball under his bed.

Such an occurrence wasn't uncommon when Ventus took up for Vanitas after he got caught misbehaving. He'd been doing ever since the two of them had been in foster care together and continued the act long after he'd been adopted by the kind headmaster. It drove Eraqus nuts, to be frank. He didn't seem to understand Ventus need to do so by any means, which, in turn, drove _Ventus_ nuts.

"What's gunna be a pain in the ass?" Sora asked as he held his hand in the air, Bitch pawing at it curiously.

"None of your business, cupcake."

 **His friend is in the music class. He's going to find out anyways** , Ventus signed, his face as monotone as it was bossy. How he managed such a look still baffled Vanitas.

He groaned. " _Fine_. I set off fireworks in the music room while I was drunk, good ole Yen Sid found out, and now to make up for it I have to serve two fucking hundred hours of community service and Lamer over here talked his old man into letting me serve it at the academy. In the music room. By helping him help the the music teacher in teaching a bunch of self entitled brats the difference between G minor and G major."

 **Most of them already have musical experience.**

"And I guarantee you there's at least one who hasn't so much as picked up an instrument before in their pathetic little life," Vanitas growled in response.

 **Everyone has to start** _ **sometime**_ **. You weren't exactly born knowing how to play the piano, either, you know** , Ventus argued, his body language tense.

Sora, sensing that this was about to break out in a fight was quick to intervene. "Hey! How do you sign turtle again? I haven't been able to remember how to sign it and it's _really_ frustrating me!"

The two stared at him blankly, their argument, for the most part, forgotten.

"What?"

"Uh, Ventus and Aqua have been teaching us ASL lately because we, my friends and I, want to be able to talk to him the way you guys do, plus I need another language class and will literally die if I take german again. Anyhoo, how do I say turtle?" Sora asked once more, throwing in an overly happy grin for good measure. this was something he often did at family gathering when his relatives would fight, so that fact that it had worked wasn't really all that surprising to him.

"Like this?" Vanitas muttered, attempting the sign before looking at Ventus in confusion. "Shit, I don't know. I've never really had to use this one before. Am _I_ doing it right?"

The blond shrugged. **I guess. I've never really had to use it either.**

The youngest of the trio blinked slowly at the ravenette. "You understand it way better than you use it, don't you?"

"So? Using it is kind of useless on my part seeing as how his ears work just fine and I don't personally know anyone who's deaf," Vanitas defended. "My deepest apologies on being a bit rusty."

 **Don't be such a baby about it.**

"I'm about two seconds away from hitting you so hard your vocal cords start working again," Vanitas drawled, half serious, half joking, though it seemed like pure agitation from Sora's point of view. He couldn't help but wonder if this was how all their conversations went. "Anyways, didn't Cupcake want some alone time with you? You'd better hit the road before it gets too late."

 **You sure?**

"Yeah. I promised Bitch we'd get our Netflix on tonight," He announced as she rubbed lovingly against his leg, purring. He promptly picked her up and rubbed her face against his own. "I mean look at this face. She's gunna kill me in my sleep if ignore her for much longer."

 **Yeah,** _ **right.**_

"She seems more likely to keep you up purring and meowing for attention," Sora laughed.

"That's just a ruse she puts up to lead unsuspecting cupcakes to their doom," Vanitas informed him, his tone dark. "She'll be coming after you once she's finished with me, no doubt about it."

 **I have to agree with Sora on this one. She's an absolute sweetheart and you know it.** Ventus stuck out his tongue. **Have fun with with little Miss Sassy and don't get into anymore trouble before Friday. I'll kill you myself if you do. Tell Sora I said it's time to roll.**

Vanitas grinned evilly at that. "Cupcake, your boyfriend says it's go time."

The sound of Ventus's hand slapping his own forehead in exasperation echoed throughout the kitchen. _**Why?!**_

"Because it's funny."

And with that Ventus was pulling sora out the apartment, flipping Vanitas off the entire way.


	7. Beans and Toast

**DISCLAIMER:** **I OWN NEITHER KINGDOM HEARTS OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THE PLOT, NOW GOOD DAY!**

 _Beans and Toast_

"So," Sora started as he watched Ventus pick at seemingly random piano keys. "How exactly did you meet that Vanitas, or is that too personal. It's OK if you don't want to answer." After his conversation with Riku the day before, he was considerably more careful about what he said to blond. More understanding as to why he might not want to talk about certain things.

The piano picking stopped just long enough for Ventus to write down his response, immediately resuming after he tossed Sora the notebook. He was trying to work out some of his frustrations by playing the massive instrument, but he honestly didn't feel like playing anything in particular, so he settled on the mess of senseless noises he was creating instead.

 _We had the same foster parent for a while. The guy was a major creep. Him getting us into piano was literally the only good thing that came of the whole ordeal._

"So you've been friends a while, then- Why are you looking at me like that?!" Sora demanded as Ventus snatched the notebook from him, startling him as it was shoved back in his face.

 _Vanitas is NOT my FRIEND! He's just familiar and we went through some shit together is all. Nothing more than that!_

Sora blinked slowly at that. Why Ventus was so defensive about him and Vanitas was beyond his comprehension. He desperately wanted to ask, but Sora 2.0 had sworn to himself that he wouldn't press buttons that were clearly labeled as _do not touch_. At least not intentionally.

" _Oh-kay_ … How about this, then? Were you already-" He stopped himself from saying mute. Aqua had informed him the other night that Ventus didn't particularly like the term and thus had tried to refrain from using it as much as possible since. "Were you already unable to talk when you were adopted?" He hoped this question wasn't in the red zone as he'd come to call it. It did, at the very most, seem yellow.

His reaction to _this_ question was significantly calmer, much to Sora's relief. _Yes. I'd been like this for not_ too _long, but a while none the less before Eraqus took me in. He was also the one to first suggest I learn ASL. Terra, Aqua, Eraqus and I all learned it together. Vanitas learned it on his own after he found out_ I _was learning it._

Sora bit his lip as he contemplated whether or not his next question was a good idea or not. It seemed red, so he adjusted the wording a bit to make it orange. "Does you foster parent have anything to do with your voice? Once again, you don't have to answer if you don't want to!"

Ventus chewed on the end of his pen as he debated on how he should respond. He took his time writing a response. _Yes, actually. Let's just say he leaned on the abusive side and what he did can never be undone._

Sora felt horrible as he looked up from the notebook to see him staring blankly at the ivory keys spread out before him, his mind clearly somewhere else as he bit down on his pen once more. Sora wanted to apologise, but he was afraid doing so might upset his friend, and thus opted for staring at spot on the floor until Ventus snapped out of whatever trance he was in.

The notebook was eventually pulled from his hands once more only to be returned a moment later, the topic being far less emotional. _So you don't play any instruments at all?_

He had to laugh at that. "No. I tried it all when we first started at the academy, but I suck at everything, even the triangle. Riku has always been good with the cello ever since we were kids, though, so I figured I give it the good ole beach boy try, but like I said, I sucked." Something occurred to him just then. "Hey, Vanitas said he was going to be helping you and Mr. Mickey in the music classes, right? Does that mean he plays an instrument too?"

 _He plays the piano like I do. He's just as good as me, but not as devoted. He doesn't like to stay true to the score, much rather preferring do his own thing. Judges at competitions hate him for it, though he hasn't entered any of those in a_ while _. He's mainly been bullshitting around as of late._ Ventus's face was as stoic as it was pissed and he began softly hitting random keys before reclaiming the notebook to continue his response, Sora just barely finishing reading what he's previously written. _I honestly think he's doing it to prove a point to some invisible entity, or possibly just to piss me off. He's letting his talent go to waste._

"So, he's stopped playing? For now, at least?"

 _Yup._

Once again Sora wondered why Ventus cared so much about Vanitas if they weren't friends. He was starting to suspect this was just the result of both of them being too stubborn for their own good, neither of them wanting to fold on the matter until the other did it first.

"Does he ever come over here?" Sora asked, genuinely curious on the matter.

Ventus looked sheepish about answering this one, but not in a red zone sort of way, more like it was a secret he wasn't sure he should tell the younger male. _He's not_ supposed _to, my dad doesn't like him, but he sneaks over to practice with the piano when Eraqus is out of town. At least he USED to before he went on a piano strike._

Yeah, there was no way Ventus was convincing him the two weren't friends after _that_. He didn't know who they thought they were fooling, but it sure as hell wasn't him. People who aren't friends typically didn't sneak into each other's houses to hang out the last time he checked.

"Nice try," he muttered under his breath, becoming alarmed as Ventus tilted his head accusingly at him. "Ak! Sorry, I was thinking about something Riku told me the other day and kinda started thinking out loud about it. Just… Just ignore that, please."

Ventus didn't looked convinced, but seemed to let it go anyways.

"So… Uhh…"

Both boys whipped around as Terra charged into the apartment, panting and smiling as he leaned against the counter to catch his breath. he was holding some sort of paper in his hand. Ventus wasted no time asking him what it was.

"Tickets," He announced joyously as he waved them in front of him like they were made of pure gold. "To see _The 13th Vessel_."

"The _band_?! How? They sold out of tickets _weeks_ ago!" Sora was super confused and desperately wanted to know how Terra had obtained the highly coveted items. Him and Riku had stood in line for seven hours several weeks prior for a pair only to be informed that there weren't anymore before they even got halfway to the booth.

Terra placed the tickets on the counter as he dug through the fridge and pulled out a water bottle, chugging it down and gasping in relief before sitting on the floor, a giant grin gracing his normally calm face. "Ok, so I know this guy who bought an ass load of tickets for these chicks because him and his friends wanted to hook up with them after the concert, right? Well, a bunch of drama happened and literally all the girls bailed on them, so he sold me the tickets to get his money back." The large brunette's energy levels were clearly reaching an all time high as struggled to keep his calm and not bound around the apartment like a kid on christmas morning.

 **I get one, right?** Ventus signed, already knowing the answer. No way his brother would get _The 13th Vessel_ tickets and not invite him, not even as a prank. The last time he'd done something like that to him, the blond had hid a dead fish in the back of his older sibling's dresser, resulting his room reeking of rot for weeks even after he found the damn thing. Eraqus had not been pleased when he found out Ventus had been the one responsible, but he hadn't regretted a single second of it despite getting grounded for a whole month.

"Of course, little bro. Sora and Riku can come too if they want. Oh! Vanitas too," He added, looking to Ventus for an answer of sorts.

 **I'll text him later, but he's most likely down for it.**

"Oh, We're _totally_ down with that shit," Sora answered, his voice strained from excitement. _The 13th Vessel_ was his and Riku's favorite band. There was no way they we going to pass up free tickets to see them live.

Terra nodded in affirmation, throwing up the _rock on_ sign. "Make sure your schedule for next weekend if fully cleared so we can get our rock on."

 **Wait, What about Aqua? She likes them to. Ask her before I ask Vanitas.**

"I already did and she she told she has that thing that night," Terra informed him as he he handed Sora his and Riku's tickets to take home for safe keeping. He didn't want to be held responsible for anyone's ticket other than his own. "You know, that play about the swan lady her and her friends have been waiting to watch for months."

Sora's head tilted slightly as he tried to figure out what the hell Terra was talking about. "A swan lady play?"

 **S-W-A-N L-A-K-E** , Ventus spelled out slowly for Sora and Terra both. The smaller of the two grinned triumphantly upon realising he understood what he was saying.

"Oh yeah! Kairi had a VHS movie of that when we were kids." He paused for a moment. "Actually, I think she still has it. I wanna say I saw it when I went over to her place the other day."

" _Get it_ ," Terra teased under his breath, resulting in Ventus smacking his arm with his notebook. _Hard_.

 **Stop that. He's fifteen.**

"Oh, I'm sure he's at least _thought_ about it," Terra argued, looking at Sora who only blinked back at him in confusion, completely oblivious to what they were arguing over.

The sound of muffled music made them all pause, the older two of the trio exchanging a glance over the song that radiated from Soras back pocket.

 **Isn't that the Walmart kid song?**

"It sounds like it, but with dubstep," Terra muttered. He and Ven exchanged another look before falling into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Meanwhile, on the couch, Sora struggled to shut his phone up, his face turning a deep scarlet. "What do you want, Riku?! Huh? Oh, is it really that late? _Oh_! I got you some things, by the way!" He started collecting his things with his free hand. "You'll just have to wait until I get there to find out. No, it's not something stupid, you jerk! I ought to keep them for myself just for that comment!"

"We'll discuss how we're gunna do things once we get everyone's approval," Terra informed him as he helped him locate his shoes, which somehow got kicked under the kitchen table. "Probably tomorrow afternoon? The sooner we get a game plan together, the better."

"Sounds good," Sora enthusiastically replied before turning his attention back to his phone. "What's it to ya? I'll tell you when I get there, you can wait five minutes. Ok, you no longer have the right to call _me_ impatient. _Whatever_."

Ventus glanced back and forth between the the door Sora had just rushed out of and his brother. **This is going to be one hectic outing, you know that, right?**

"What makes you think that?"

 **Vanitas doesn't get along to well with Sora and he's never met Riku. We're probably going to have to keep them separated the whole ride there and back.**

"Or they _could_ hit it off really well?" Terra suggested, chuckling nervously.

Ventus rolled his eyes. **You've met Vanitas. He doesn't hit it off with anyone.**

"Except you." He was answered by silence. "You two have been like beans and toast since I met you. There's no sense in denying it."

 **Yeah, well, we had so have** _ **someone**_ **in our corners against that lunatic.**


	8. Even Silent Stars Still Twinkle

**DISCLAIMER:** **I OWN NEITHER KINGDOM HEARTS NOR IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THIS PLOT. THANK YOU**

 **Oh, God… Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth ^-^; Deepest apologies for that (insert nervous laughing)**

 _Even Silent Stars Still Twinkle_

"Listen up, you entitled little _shit_ , this is an instrument of spectacular proportions, not a table for your breakfast," Vanitas growled and that the teenager who'd absentmindedly placed his thermos on the grand piano's closed lid.

Ventus rubbed his temples has he shook his head in exasperation, nearly stopping Vanitas's rage induced lecture on how the prized instrumental _should_ be treated only to be stopped by an elderly hand on his shoulder. He wasn't shocked to discover it to be Mickey, but rather that he was allowing Vanitas to chew the kid out. He raised an eyebrow.

"He's a bit harsh, but Alec does have a bad habit of using it as a table. Perhaps he'll listen to Vanitas better than he has to me or you over the matter," he pondered, releasing Ventus all the while keeping an eye on the fuming ravenette just in case.

Mickey had known both boys since they were children, and thus was privy to the knowledge that Vanitas's bite wasn't nearly as bad as his bark in most situations. Keyword here is _most_. He'd thrown more than his fair share of punches and had received just as many broken noses. By this point Ventus had the act of resetting it down to an almost perfectly executed science.

"Besides, Alec's the one who gives you the most trouble when I'm gone, correct? It could do that boy a bit of good to have taste of his own medicine, so long as Vanitas doesn't go _too_ far." He used his desk to neatly stack the pile of papers and folders in his hands. "Protocol is the same as always. If anyone causes too much trouble send me a text. Good luck."

Riku slid into the classroom, his cello case slung over his shoulder, as Mickey exited. Riku threw Ventus a knowing glance. "He has another meeting?"

Ventus nodded swiftly at him before soundlessly chuckling at the sight of Alec apologising profusely to the still fuming ravenette.

"Who's that? Is he that Van guy Sora was telling me about?" He asked him, placing his case gently on a chair before discarding his bag in a much more careless manner.

A startled sputtering sound escaped Ventus's throat as he stared at Riku in horror, trying to regain his composure as he fought to pull his notebook free of his own bag. _Do_ not _call him Van. He hates that so fucking much and I don't feel like having to calm him down. He's enough trouble as it is. And yes, that's him._

"Oh, ok. Thanks for the warning, I guess? I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say his temper is worse than Sora let on?"

 _Mhmm…_

Riku shock his head as he sighed. "And he's going to be accompanying you for how long?"

 _Until Yen sid and my dad are satisfied that he's learned his lesson. He's also required to help me with the music thing, which is kind of what got him pissed of enough to land him in this situation to begin with. I mean, I kind if accidentally fueled the fire, but that's not the point. I don't know... I think they're trying to teach him something about teamwork or some shit like that_ , he wrote, staring blankly at the previously mentioned man as he waltzed over casually. **This is Riku. He's Sora's friend.**

"So the other brat we're gunna have to babysit at the concert instead of having fun," Vanitas drawled, shifting his weight as he crossed his arms. "Since when did you start hanging out with so many kiddos, Ventus? It's totally lame."

 **They're less lame than that ugly mug of yours.**

"Don't bring out the shade unless you're prepared for an all out war, _Ariel_ ," Vanitas joked, a shit eating smirk spreading across his face.

"Ariel?" Riku questioned, ignoring his previous bitching. Sora had warned him in advance that was just how he talked and had thus decided to ignore whatever rude comments the older male threw at him before heading to school that day.

Vanitas grinned. "You know, the mermaid princess with no voice?"

 **You're such a dick** , Ventus signed, sticking out his tongue for good measure.

Thankfully after the class had witnessed the fiasco with Alec there weren't any additional discipline issues, much to Ventus's relief. In fact, it was probably a first for him. It had also been a major help that Vanitas was there to quickly translate whatever points Ventus had been trying to make throughout the class period. It was truly revitalising, especially when compared to the usual hasty scribbling he had to do to explain whatever it was that a student was doing wrong. It was because of this he got caught staring dumbly at Vanitas.

"The hell is that look for, loser?"

 **It's like breathing in fresh air after holding your breath under water.**

He blinked slowly at him. "Did you smoke something out back before I got here, because that's weird even for you." He put a hand on the blond's forehead for extra measure. "Nope. Not sick, just deranged."

 **Fuck off. What I mean is that I wish I had someone to do this with me ages ago. Usually by the time I finish a note to correct someone's playing or attitude it's way too late. Plus, you're catching things I usually miss while writing said notes.** He smiled at him once more without meaning to. His mood was just too good to resist the action.

They were quiet for awhile as they watched the students, Riku included after throwing them a brief wave, swarm out the room like ants as the bell rang. It was Vanitas who eventually broke the silence, him changing the topic to something significantly more serious without really meaning to. "They don't outcast or get impatient while talking to you, that's why you started hanging out with them, isn't it?" He paused to read Ventus's expression, his eyes telling him what his face attempted to hide. "Dammit, I don't see what the hell is wrong with people to make them treat you they way they do! That Sora kid is annoying as fuck, and I don't know what to think of that other kid, but…" He trailed off for a moment, as if not knowing himself where exactly her was going with this conversation. "There need to be more Sora's in the world. Less judgement, more _acceptance_."

Ventus smiled solemnly as he sat on Mickey's desk, mindful of all the papers scattered across it. **They're phenomenal kids, even if the child of the sky doesn't know when to shut up. He likes you, by the way. He thinks you're cool.**

"Cupcake has good taste," Vanitas laughed, winking as he posed with a hand under his chin. He casually waved as Aqua and few other ballerina walked into the classroom, clad in their sportswear, ready to practice. "Entering stage right, the faerie of doom herself; Aqua!"

Her response was her giving him the finger as she spit her gum into a nearby trash can. "You two look gloomy. If you got in another fight, please leave everyone else out of it this time. We can't afford to locate another place to practice."

 **No fight, just a bit tired is all. Vanitas told Alec off, by the way.**

She rolled her eyes at this. "And let me guess, you let him."

 **No, the magical maestro himself did. It was his royal command that I let it happen.**

"He was using the piano as a picnic table, plus he's the one Ventus always bitches about. I was just doing my civil duty," Vanitas defended, placing his hand over his heart in a dramatic fashion. He flashed her grin. "Do I get a reward to helping your baby boy?"

She shook her head in exasperation. He'd been flirting with her since the day she met him, but by this point it was more out of habit, him having, for the most part, outgrown his crush on her in his late teens. "Ask again when you lose the spider bites, emo boy."

"The ladies _love_ the spider bites."

"Not this one. Hang up and try again," she shot back, hiding her amusement towards the banter as she slipped her dance shoes on.

A sharp, shooting pain in the back of his head redirected his attention. "Dude, what the fuck?!"

 **Stop flirting with my sister before I attach you to a light socket by your earrings** , he warned, half serious. He had a habit of picking on the ravenette's variety of piercings despite having quite a few himself, though all of _his_ were in his ears, not brave enough get to any elsewhere. Vanitas on the other hand…

"Puh-lease. She's the one coming onto me," he argued, earning him another smack, this time on the arm and with far less ferocity.

The dance rehearsal had, much like the class before it, gone much smoother than usual, but this time it was because the piece the ballerinas were set to dance to was better played my _two_ pianists. Said music piece had also been what the two males had fought over prior to a drunken Vanitas having a major lapse in judgement. Much to everyone's relief, they seemed to have worked out whatever negative energy that had caused them to previously step on each other's theoretical toes.

Throughout the rehearsal Aqua found herself constantly glancing over to check their moods, a gentle smile gracing her lips halfway through as she found herself reminded of the two as children, how they'd play together, bonding over the beautiful music they'd create together, their tiny hands dancing over the ivory keys.

That monster who'd taken them in under false pretenses had very nearly broke them both, their love for the instrument before them apparently being one of the only things that kept them from falling apart completely throughout the whole ordeal. As such, she sometimes felt as if it served as a grimful reminder just as much as it served as a form of relief for the two young men, which also had her questioning if it had anything to do with Vanitas's unusual lack of enthusiasm in his part of the piece. Normally it was Ventus who fought to keep up in Vanitas's unorthodox play style, but unlike the last time, it was Vanitas who was seemingly struggling.

By the time they had finished the punkish male looked drained, earning a look of concern from Ventus. His hand hovered over Vanitas's shoulder before deeming it not to be the best idea, letting it drift back over the keys instead, beginning to play something that seemed reminiscent of _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_.

It seemed to have done the trick, Vanitas suddenly seeming far more chipper. "You're so _lame_ , old as you are playing _nursery rhymes_." Despite this, Vanitas allowed his hands to hover over his half of the keys, joining in when Ventus hit a certain part, their combined melody of it swirling happily throughout the room. Now they _truely_ resembled the boys Aqua used to watch play as children, their faces content as they repeated the melody over and over to their hearts' content, graceful smiles adorning their lips.

Vanitas closed his eyes, the sound of Ventus's enthusiastic singing and childish laughter swirling up from the back his memory.

 _I'm sorry I let him hurt you..._


End file.
